Sharapova made a public apology of not knowing that the medicine that their family doctor has been giving her for the past 10 years was a prohibited drug in the United States.

In a press conference, she told reporters that she has been taking a medicine Mildronat, which also known as Meldonium, and it was not at the start of the year that the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) came out with a new list of banned drugs with Mildronat or Meldonium included in the list.

After admitting to failing the drug test, both Nike and Tag Heuer immediately cut ties with her as sponsors. But Sharapova stated that she will take full responsibility for the incident and will face all the consequences that comes together with the scandal as the International Tennis Federation (ITF) has yet to detail her suspension.

However, the Herald Sun reported that former WADA president Dick Pound does not accept the former tennis number one’s excuse stating that all tennis players were informed of the list of banned drugs before December of last year and yet Sharapova did not heed to the warnings.

Pound added that the ITF and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) contacted Sharapova many tines and warned her that Meldonium was on the banned list of drugs.

“Anytime there is a change to the list, notice is given on 30 September prior to the change. You have October, November, December to get off what you are doing. She is taking something that is not generally permitted in her country of residence (US) for medical purposes, so she says, so there must be a doctor following this,” Pound said.

As many has condemned Sharapova for what had happened, tennis stars like her arch-rival Serena Williams and World men’s tennis number one Novak Djokovic have expressed support for her.

Williams has stated that it was brave of her to come out to the open and admit her fault while Djokovic said that he will not turn his back at her after the incident.